
Who owns the San José wastewater treatment facility?
The Facility is jointly owned by the cities of San José and Santa Clara, and is managed and operated by the City of San José’s Environmental Services Department. The city councils of San José and Santa Clara, the Treatment Plant Advisory Committee (TPAC), and the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) oversee the Facility’s activities.
What are some fun facts about the San Jose water treatment plant?
Fun facts about the plant: It can treat 3 - 5 billion gallons of water each year. It serves 100,000 people during the summer months and up to 300,000 people during the winter months. Laid end-to-end the ultrafiltration fibers would stretch from San Jose to Chicago!
Who is the CEO of San Jose water?
Earlier today, San Jose Water's CEO Eric W. Thornburg and President and COO Andrew Gere were joined by Los Gatos Mayor Rob Rennie, and Santa Clara Valley Water District Director Gary Kremen to unveil the SJW's newest, state-of-the-art water treatment facility.
What is the San José-Santa Clara regional wastewater facility?
The San José-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility is the largest advanced wastewater treatment facility in the western United States. It works 24/7 to clean Silicon Valley’s wastewater to very high national standards, protecting public health and environment and supporting the economy.

Does California have water treatment plants?
In California, wastewater treatment takes place through 100,000 miles of sanitary sewer lines and at more than 900 wastewater treatment plants that manage the roughly 4 billion gallons of wastewater generated in the state each day.
What happens to human waste at treatment plants?
In the secondary treatment plant oxygen is added to the wastewater to speed up the growth of micro-organisms. These microbes then consume the wastes and settle to the bottom of the secondary settling tanks. After secondary treatment, 80-90% of human waste and other solids have been removed.
Where does water from water treatment plant go?
What happens to the treated water when it leaves the wastewater treatment plant? The treated wastewater is released into local waterways where it's used again for any number of purposes, such as supplying drinking water, irrigating crops, and sustaining aquatic life.
Are water treatment plants safe?
The wastewater treatment area is seen as slightly less hazardous today, but treatment plant workers still experience health problems and death. Specifically, these experiences involve chemicals in the sewer system and in regular work exposures throughout the facility's operations.
Where does all the poop go when you flush the toilet?
When you press the flush button, your wee, poo, toilet paper and water go down a pipe called a sewer. The toilet flushes the wastes down the sewer pipe. The sewer pipe from your house also collects and removes other wastes.
What is done with sludge after water treatment?
Once treated, sewage sludge is then dried and added to a landfill, applied to agricultural cropland as fertilizer, or bagged with other materials and marketed as “biosolid compost” for use in agriculture and landscaping.
What does California do with waste water?
Treated wastewater is used in California to support aquatic ecosystems, like wetlands, rivers, and lakes. This can be for the purposes of habitat restoration, water flow augmentations, and water quantity and quality maintenance.
Where does our poop go after the sewer?
sewage treatment plantThe big sewer pipes take all the sewage to a place where it is treated. This place is called a sewage treatment plant. All towns and cities have these. They are like a big factory where any harmful materials are removed.
What happens to poop in a septic tank?
The decomposition process in the tank slows down, leading to blockage and overflow. Over time, soil, sludge, excrement and solid waste build up, as a result, the solid waste starts to build up. This process gets worse and finally the septic system gives up and backs up completely.
Does it smell to live near a water treatment plant?
The very nature of wastewater makes it a smelly venture. While wastewater treatment plants do smell, it's important to reduce those smells for several reasons. First, you don't want people who live nearby to constantly complain to the town or city about the odors.
Can you get sick working in a wastewater treatment plant?
Conclusion: WWTPs workers are high risk of developing various infections and cardiopulmonary diseases.
Why do wastewater treatment plants smell?
Generally speaking, foul odors at treatment plants originate from the anaerobic decomposition of organic compounds. A natural by-product of anaerobic digestion is hydrogen sulfide (H2S), which gives off a strong, nauseating smell.
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Where does the SFPUC water come from?
The Hetch Hetchy Watershed provides most of the SFPUC water supply. This water comes from snowmelt that flows down the Tuolumne River before being stored in the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Additional SFPUC water supply comes from watersheds in Alameda and Santa Clara Counties.
Where does San Jose Municipal Water System get its water from?
The District’s source water is mainly imported from the South Bay Aqueduct, Lake Del Valle, and San Luis Reservoir, which all draw water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed. The District’s local water sources include Anderson and Calero Reservoirs. From these reservoirs, water is pumped to the Santa Teresa Water Treatment Plant in San José.
Where does drinking water come from?
Water Sources. Drinking water sources across America include rivers, lakes, streams, reservoirs, and groundwater wells. The source of the water that you receive depends on the service area you live in: Evergreen, North San José/Alviso, Edenvale, or Coyote Valley.
What is NAWC water?
The National Association of Water Companies (NAWC)#N#(link is external)#N#represents regulated water and wastewater companies, as well as ones engaging in partnerships with municipal utilities. NAWC members provide 73 million Americans with safe and reliable water service every day and have an exceptional record of compliance with federal and state health and environmental regulations. Ensuring this high standard of quality requires extraordinary amounts of capital investment. NAWC estimates that its ten largest members alone collectively invested $3 billion in 2018 in their water and wastewater systems. For more information about NAWC, please visit NAWC.org#N#(link is external)#N#or follow on Twitter,#N#(link is external)#N#Facebook#N#(link is external)#N#and YouTube#N#(link is external)#N#.
Who is the president of San Jose Water?
San Jose – October 29, 2019 — San Jose Water, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SJW Group, today announced that its President and Chief Operating Officer, Andy Gere, has been named Chairman of the National Association of Water Companies (NAWC) for 2020. Gere previously held the role of Vice Chairman.
What is the Rinconada water treatment plant?
The Rinconada Water Treatment Plant is the second-largest of the Santa Clara Valley Water District's plants. Completed in 1967 by the Santa Clara County Flood Control and Water Conservation District - the precursor to today's water district - the plant can treat and deliver up to 80 million gallons of water each day for retailers who supply residential and commercial users in the West Valley, including the cities of Santa Clara, Campbell, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Mountain View, Monte Sereno, Saratoga and Los Altos and the towns of Los Gatos and Los Altos Hills.
What is the effect of ozone on chlorination?
The use of ozone reduces the formation of chlorination byproducts. Disinfection byproducts at high levels can be a health concern. Ozone upgrades to the plant were completed in 2006. Landscape improvements, screens, façade panels and a new entrance were added in 2008.
Why is ozone used in Penitencia?
Ozone is an excellent addition to the drinking water treatment process because it is a very strong disinfectant.
How much water does Santa Teresa deliver?
As the largest of the water district’s three treatment plants, Santa Teresa can treat and deliver up to 100 million gallons of water per day.
How to contact Santa Teresa Water Treatment Plant?
If you have any questions or concerns about the Santa Teresa Water Treatment Plant, please contact Neighborhood Liaison Tony Mercado at (408) 630-2342 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Your Water. Where Your Water Comes From. Water Quality.
Where does Rinconada get its water from?
Rinconada draws water from the South Bay Aqueduct (SBA) and the San Luis Reservoir. The San Luis Reservoir is a key component of the federal Central Valley Project while the SBA is a key component of the State Water Project system. Water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta pumps into the Delta-Mendota Canal and then into the San Luis Reservoir.
What is the phone number for Anderson and Calero?
If an urgent problem arises after regular business hours, please call the on-duty plant supervisor at (408) 265-2607, ext. 2121.

Overview
The San José–Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility (abbreviated RWF; officially the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant ) is a wastewater treatment plant located in the Alviso neighborhood of San Jose, California. The facility treats 110 million U.S. gallons (420 megaliters) of wastewater per day, with a capacity of up to 167 million U.S. gal/d (630 ML/d), making it the largest tertiary treatment plant in the western United States. It serves 1.5 million resi…
Location
The site sits on more than 2,600 acres (1,100 ha) on the southern end of the San Francisco Bay, adjacent to the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. It consists of a 175-acre (71 ha) processing area, a 750-acre (300 ha) sludge-drying area, a 850-acre (340 ha) former salt evaporation pond, and open buffer space. About 200 acres (81 ha) is set aside for the Western burrowing owl, a California species of special concern. The plant's outfall channel is Artesian Slo…
History
In the 1880s, San Jose built a simple sewage disposal system that discharged untreated wastewater directly into the San Francisco Bay. It was the largest sewage disposal system in the South Bay, with enough capacity for 250,000 people despite a population under 15,000, in order to discharge organic waste from the city's many fruit canneries. By the 1930s, the canneries along with indoor plumbing increasingly contributed to pollution in the bay. However, voters rejected b…
Operations
As of 2020 , the facility treats 110 million U.S. gallons (420 megaliters) of wastewater per day, with a capacity of up to 167 million U.S. gal/d (630 ML/d). Most effluent is discharged into Artesian Slough. However, an average 14 million U.S. gal/d (53 ML/d) of treated wastewater is diverted to the adjacent South Bay Water Recycling (SBWR) plant and distributed as reclaimed water to about 750 customers in San Jose, Santa Clara, and Milpitas. Solids removed from the effluent are proc…
Service area
As of 2020 , the facility serves 1.5 million residents and over 17,000 business facilities in the following Santa Clara County jurisdictions, which maintain separate collection infrastructure:
• San Jose
• Santa Clara
• Milpitas
See also
• Donald M. Somers Water Pollution Control Plant in Sunnyvale
• Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant
• South County Regional Wastewater Authority in Gilroy
• Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant in San Francisco
External links
• Official website
• South Bay Water Recycling